This article is from 2006's Cool Spa Treatments package. The information may be out-of-date, so please call locations listed for new information.

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Bikini waxes are never fun. But they don’t have to feel like medieval torture.

I’ll always remember one esthetician who, holding a flat stick dripping with searing wax, told me her motto was “no mercy.” She wasn’t kidding. Or the Brazilian woman who twisted me into positions so risqué I blushed for hours after.

Since then, I never think about getting a bikini wax anywhere but Elizabeth Arden Red Door Salon & Spa. The salons use soft, warm Elizabeth Arden wax, which doesn’t hurt nearly as much as other formulas and never leaves red marks. Treatments are quick but comfortable. And the estheticians—I like Angela at the Chevy Chase location—will groom you as modestly (or immodestly) as you want. Bikini waxes are $35, Brazilian bikini waxes $63.

Elizabeth Arden Red Door Salon & Spa, 5225 Wisconsin Ave., NW; 202-362-9890; plus six other locations.